February 01, 2011

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Egypt's embattled ruler Hosni Mubarak announced Tuesday that he will not seek reelection, but vowed he would not be chased from the country he has ruled for three decades.

"I will die on the soil of Egypt," Mubarak said on Egyptian state television Tuesday evening, indicating he apparently planned to manage the transition to presidential elections currently scheduled for September.

Mubarak's announcement -- greeted by screams of "leave, leave" and "get out" by over a million protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square -- came hours after Obama administration officials confirmed Tuesday that President Barack Obama has sent a message to Mubarak - delivered by former ambassador Frank Wisner - telling him not to run for another term.

Obama, speaking from the White House Tuesday, said he'd urged Mubarak to accept the need to move swiftly to a transition to free and fair elections.

"What I indicated tonight to President Mubarak is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now," Obama said.

In a thirty minute phone call, Obama told Mubarak "it was clear how much he loves his country, and how difficult this is for him," a U.S. official said. "President Obama also explained to him that an orderly transition can't be prolonged -- it must begin now."

The latest developments marked a momentous turning point in the stunning eight-day Egyptian crisis, as the Obama administration continued its careful diplomacy, aimed at easing the longtime Egyptian strongman out of power and advancing towards an orderly and meaningful transition process.

Toward that end, the U.S. said Tuesday that Washington's envoy to Cairo had reached out to Mohammed ElBaradei, the former International Atomic Energy Agency chief who has emerged as the designated leader of Egypt's currently united opposition political movement.

“As part of our public outreach to convey support for orderly transition in Egypt, U.S. Amb. to Egypt Margaret] Scobey spoke today with Mohammed ElBaradei,” State Department PJ Crowley said in a tweet Tuesday.

The acknowledgement of U.S.-opposition contact came a day after the United States said it had sent veteran wise man and former ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner to Cairo as its envoy. “As someone with deep experience in the region, he is meeting with Egyptian officials and providing his assessment," the White House's Tommy Vietor said.

Wisner conveyed a message directly from President Obama to Mubarak counseling him "that he should make way for a reform process that would culminate in free and fair elections in September to elect a new Egyptian leader," the New York Times reported.

The administration’s style and intent was also evident in a New York Times op-ed by Kerry Tuesday in which the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman urged Mubarak to leave office gracefully. Kerry, -- who has been used as a presidential envoy on several sensitive diplomatic assignments -- said Mubarak should declare that neither he nor his son will run in upcoming presidential elections this year.

But while Kerry later praised Mubarak's announcement Tuesday that he "will bring his presidency to an end," he also sounded a note of skepticism:

"It remains to be seen whether this is enough to satisfy the demands of the Egyptian people for change," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement. "We arrived at this point because millions of Egyptians spoke with one voice and exercised fundamental rights we Americans hold dear. Now, that future belongs to them to shape. The Egyptian people are writing the next chapter of Egyptian history."

The concerted and growing U.S. pressure on Mubarak to step down came as the Obama White House told regional experts with whom it has been consulting that it considers Tuesday “pivotal” in Cairo, said Marc Lynch, a Middle East expert at George Washington University who was among a group of Egypt experts who met with the National Security Council's Dan Shapiro and Samantha Power at the White House Monday.

The administration "clearly thinks Mubarak has to go,” Lynch said, adding, however, “I don’t think they have a clear roadmap of how it should play out.”

With the army making clear it will not fire on the demonstrators, and a million people in the street, "Mubarak doesn't have an option here except to go,” said the Brookings Institution's Martin Indyk, an advisor to Middle East Peace envoy George Mitchell and former U.S. envoy to Israel.

"But, it doesn't mean he will go today or tomorrow,” Indyk cautioned. “How long it takes for Mubarak to accept this and leave is not at all clear. He will not leave easily."

Nor will the protesters likely accept “half measures” that would involve Mubarak staying on 'til presidential elections currently scheduled for September, Indyk said.

I wouldn't be surprised if Washington wasn't behind this whole thing. They trained and paid for the army. It's been clear that which ever way the army leaned, that was how the whole thing would play out. The army has backed the people. I'll bet there is a lot more to this uprising than we'll ever know.

Posted By: I wouldn't be surprised if Washington wasn't behind this whole thing. They trained and paid for the | February 01, 2011 at 04:08 PM

The arrival of several mixed companys of US assault troopers with helicopters from Fort Brigg were seen arriving at the Sinai USA base on Sunday, and the setting-up of satelite communications equptment at both the international airport and in the gardens of the Egyptian Presidents palace- looks like combined US-Egyptian action will start any time now?

This is a goden opportunity for the President Barack Hussain Obama to regain the trust and respect for the United States of America as the only super power on earth among the International Community by supporting the people of Egypt.
It's the time for the US administration to show solidarity with the masses and to coordinate for the free and fair election.
Any plan/strategy to stop Muslim Brother/Ikhwan ul Muslimeen would be counter productive/destructive. Instead US should use diplomatic channels to reach them for joint efforts for the peaceful transition and strengthning of democratic institutions in Egypt.

Now the “dead-line” is Friday as posted by the couple of dozen unknown bloggers who seem to running things with a wing and prayer. With thousands of increasingly agitated demonstrators on the streets wonder how long it will take the Islamic radicals to cause an incident. You know like killing a few dozen cops or soldiers, or maybe just blowing up something. All in the hopes that innocent bystanders will get killed in retaliation in order to create havoc, news headlines, and of course uncontrolled rioting. Meanwhile back in repressive Iran The United States is urging the Iranian government to halt executions after Tehran hanged a Dutch-Iranian woman, accusing that she was a drug smuggler. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said Bahrami was originally charged with security offenses in the wake of widespread protests against the government over a controversial presidential election in June 2009. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has said the drug charges were only a pretext to execute Zahra Bahrami, and the Netherlands froze all ties with Iran on Sunday, a day after the hanging. "Judicial cases, trials, and sentences continue to proceed without transparency and the due process rights enshrined in Iran's own constitution," it said.
The department said it was especially troubled by Bahrami's execution, saying she was denied access to Dutch consular officials. "Her execution is one of dozens carried out in recent weeks amid serious questions about the motives of the Iranian government," it said. Iran trails China in the number of executions worldwide, according to Amnesty International. Iran hanged Bahrami on Saturday, saying she was a drug smuggler, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, although the Dutch government expressed "great concern" about her case three weeks ago. But her lawyer was "shocked" to find she had been hanged, the group said. "I was absolutely not informed about this. They should have informed her lawyer of the execution, but I had no idea. I don't know what to say. Just that I am shocked," Jinoos Sharif Razi told the group.

Omar Suleiman:
1. Where are the Weather Underground members Wade Rathke, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn?
2. What are they doing to foment trouble in Egypt?
3. Van Jones in Egypt? Any of the Storm members in Egypt now?
4. Root out the foreign agitators sponsored by either the Weather Underground or Van Jones.
5. Any evidence of “Van Jones: Bottom Up, Top Down, Inside Out Strategy” in Egypt?
6. If Wade Rathke, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Van Jones or their trouble makers are in Egypt, imprison them, revoke their Egyptian visas and ban them from Egypt for life.